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Too much

December 2, 2019 in Blog

’Tis the season of excess. In all the ways. Too much doing, rushing, eating, whirling, spending, running, shopping. Too much of too much. Seems to me it’s the perfect time to get back to basics and revisit the foundations of yoga, which set the stage for a shift of consciousness from chaos toward freedom. 

The fifth yama listed in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is aparigraha. Breaking the word into its parts, you have: a- a prefix that changes the meaning of what it precedes to the opposite; pari- “on all sides”; graha- “to grab. To grab on all sides (or in every direction) would be parigraha, and that, in a word, sums up how we tend to move through the holidays.… Read the rest

What are you carrying?

June 25, 2019 in Blog

Back in April, after about six weeks of deep, aching back pain, I went for an MRI. Unlike most test results I’ve had in my life where I’m told “everything looks fine” I was given an actual diagnosis: a stress fracture at L4. It’s not a big deal. I was in a brace for a month and still have one month more of limited activity yet to go and everything should heal completely. It did provide fodder for a good laugh with a friend– that I’d been going on for such a long time about needing “a break” that I finally got one.… Read the rest

Yoga Doesn’t Fix Everything

March 1, 2019 in Blog, yoga philosophy

While I occasionally have a plan for what I’ll talk about in the opening meditation for class, most of the time it’s a surprise even to me what comes out. Sometimes, it’s what has been showing up in my own life and practice, what I’ve been reading about or what I am consistently hearing from students. Other times the message seems like it is arriving from the universe as a dharma lesson for me personally as much as it might be for anyone else in the room. Over the many years of teaching, I have come to trust the impulse of what rises whether planned or unplanned, comfortable or not.… Read the rest

do your practice. all is coming.

May 2, 2016 in Blog

Do your practice. All is coming.

by Jill Sockman

This came through my inbox this morning: “On the path of transformation, you will experience acceptance, which entails accepting your own inner condition exactly as it is, without reacting to it or defending against it.” Also in the inbox, from a different source: “You can have all good things – wealth, friends, kindness, love to give and love to receive – once you have learned not to be blinded by them, learned to escape from disappointment, and from repugnance at the idea that things are not as you want them to be.”… Read the rest

integrity and a yamas refresher

October 5, 2015 in Blog

Integrity and a Yamas Refresher

by Jill Sockman

I’ve come to use #specialtimes to describe events of late. By the accounts of many around me, we are in the midst of a time of big transitions, and I don’t just mean the weather. It’s all pushed me to pause to take a look at just what integrity means. So you might want to settle into your seat or scroll down right now, as I have the feeling this is going to take a hot minute.

The word integrity means “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character” and “the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.”… Read the rest

fall is vata time – return to nourishment of self

September 3, 2015 in Blog

Fall is Vata Time – return to nourishment of self

by Jill Sockman

I got my first whiff of Fall about two weeks ago. It wasn’t even cool outside, the air didn’t hold the crisp and dry quality that will come in a couple of short months, but it was Change — no doubt about it. It’s an unmistakeable phenomena that happens to me twice per year: both the coming of Fall at the end of a long, hot summer, and the first notion of Spring when we near the end of the dark, cold winter months. This ephemeral, intangible note in the air was the first message the summer is coming to an end, it’s time to get back to work, and most importantly, it’s time to return to deep nourishment of self.… Read the rest

Listen to your soul

February 2, 2015 in Blog

Listen to your soul

by Jill Sockman

I’m not sure who coined the phrase “you teach what you need to learn,” but I know that even while words are spilling out of my mouth, I am often aware the message coming forth applies to me at least as much as it applies to anyone else in the room. So it shouldn’t be a big surprise to me that I’ve been talking a lot lately about how necessary it is to cultivate an awareness — a relationship — with the part inside of us that Knows. It’s a gentle nudge for me to take a closer look: am I practicing what I preach?… Read the rest

Why yoga?

December 2, 2014 in Blog

Why yoga?

by Suzanne Weiner

“Suzanne, why do you do yoga?”

If I had a nickel for every time I was asked this I would be really rich. REALLY rich. I have come to believe that the people who ask are the ones who are looking for one of two things. They genuinely hope I will say something so profound they will immediately see the light and understand what brings me to the practice. Otherwise, they hope I might say something that sounds so outrageous they will laugh and be able to place me in the category of “that strange yoga person.”… Read the rest

It begins

February 6, 2014 in Blog

It begins

My blue family,

At about this time every year, I silently (or not so silently) ask the question, “why do we do this?”  It’s usually followed by a short list of reasons why a fundraising event of this magnitude is really out of our scope and is, therefore, driving us out of our minds. But that small and whiny voice is always drowned out by the deeper, stronger, louder, and truer voice that answers, “we do this because we can.”

In the words of Albert Einstein,

“Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”… Read the rest